VSO/Sri Lankan Wedding

 In September, our fellow VSO colleague, Mark married his Sri Lankan sweetheart Sewandy and generously, we were all invited to the wedding in Colombo. Some carefully manipulation with VSO Sri Lanka office enabled us to coordinate one of our regular sector group meetings a day or so before the wedding, that way justifying the absence from our work desks on a Tuesday afternoon.

Mark was already, actually married in August, in an engagement party. At this Buddhist engagement party, there is an exchange of rings, a promise and legally, they are married.  However, they cannot actually, culturally sleep together until the wedding day.

So the wedding day was a big day for us all, especially for Mark and Sewandy. In preparation for the big event the Jaffna VSO girls went on a Jaffna Saari shopping expedition and in the end, we all looked lovely and bright - the Jaffna Parrotts!

In Colombo, we scheduled a cosmetologist that does the "dressing" which involved a total of 14 safety pins and an underskirt.  We had our hair done professionally and were ready for the one hour van ride to the reception hall.  The bride and groom looked lovely, served cake, copious amounts of wine and good gin, fed us well and the band played some western/sinhala music that was much appreciated by all.... especially Bill.  With his new look and his lust for dancing and his lack of dancing opportunities for two years,  he capitalized on each and every dance... including showing off his two-step to a Sri lankan singer doing a Dwight Yokum number.

Jaffna Parrots
Someone posted a picture of the Jaffna Parrotts that went viral, as my kids saw it on Facebook, before I even knew it was there.  I attach a pic for your viewing pleasure. Put on your sunglasses first as the blaze of colour might harm your eyes.

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